It’s not about who you are standing against – it’s about what you are standing for.

Posted by Corie Haddock on August 13, 2014

Corie Haddock is “a working class boy from Taranaki”. A former welder, who went on to study mental health at university, he’s a manager with the Lifewise trust, a community organisation which initiates new ways to solve challenging social issues and provides services to families in need, the homeless and disabled people.

Corie is also co-chair of the New Zealand Coalition to End Homelessness and is outspoken on the lack of Government support for the homeless. He speaks from experience when he says he believes its policies are contributing to the homeless problem.

He lives in Huapai so has a thorough knowledge of the Helensville electorate – where he’s standing against John Key. For Corie it’s not about who he is standing against – it’s about what he’s standing for.

“I came to politics through my work. For me the change in my life came in 2008 when I first began working with homeless people. That was my first experience of immense poverty – on a scale I had never known existed in New Zealand.

“I have seen a lot more since then and I’ve seen inequality grow, and that is not the New Zealand I want to live in or want my children to live in. So I had to take direct action to stand and fight for the country I believe in.

“I joined the Party in 2010 and was campaign manager for Jeremy Greenbrook-Held who ran for Labour in Helensville in 2011.

“I’ve lived in the electorate for 15 years, my wife is a relief teacher locally, so for me it’s the natural place to stand. I understand the issues that concern and frustrate local people – from the lack of job opportunities and affordable housing, to congestion, and infrastructure not keeping up with development – because I’m living many of those frustrations every day too.

“We’ve worked hard on the election strategy and are running a positive campaign. We have a small team – myself, my wife and the LEC. We did a lot of initial targeting, which is serving us well and are concentrating on where we know there are core Labour voters.

“We’re door knocking now and the initial responses from people have been really interesting. In one breath people say they are going to vote for Key, but, in the next they say they don’t like his policies. People are interested and positive about our campaign and they do want things to change.

“The work won’t stop after the election, we’ll keep on going and build on what we are doing now. I plan to be Labour’s Helensville candidate in 2017 - my goal is to be the first Labour MP for Helensville.”